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Fee Disclosure for Retirement Plans

by Martin Suechting in Breaking News

Retirement plan fiduciaries will see mixed blessings from the newly released U. S. Department of Labor final regulations on fee disclosure.

The final regulations track fairly closely to the July 2010 interim version of the rules. Overall, the regulations will make it easier for plan fiduciaries to discharge their duty to plan participants by having a more detailed picture of what their plan expenses are. (Full text here: http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/pdf/2012-02262-PI1.pdf).

Plan sponsors now have a duty to ensure that their service providers comply with the new rules. Note that retirement plan fiduciaries have always been required to ensure that plans pay only "reasonable" costs for the services they receive. Now it should be easier to get a clear picture of what the plan costs are, but many still may need assistance in determining what is "reasonable". The new regulations go into effect on July 1, 2012.

For help in understanding the fiduciary responsibilities or how to comply with the new regulations, please contact either Martin Suechting or Tony Sebranek at Bullseye Capital.

Also, just around the corner in late August, the new U. S. Department of Labor participant disclosure rules (under IRC Section 404) will become effective. More on that to come.